After a weekend off from competition, the Nebraska men’s tennis team returns to competition at home this week. The Huskers begin the week’s competition with a tough opponent in No. 48 East Tennessee State on Thursday, March 8, at 1 p.m. and continue on to face Central Region competitor, Wichita State , on Saturday, March 10, at 5 p.m.

With 11 wins already under their belt, the Buccaneers (Bucs) will prove to be a strong competitor for the Huskers on Thursday. The Bucs are ranked No. 48 nationally and have suffered only three losses this spring, all to nationally ranked teams. The Bucs earned their biggest win in ETSU tennis history on Jan. 28, 2007, when they upset No. 31 Middle Tennessee State, 4-2. A member of the Atlantic Sun conference, ETSU leads the conference with a 3-0 record in conference play this spring while also earning three Atlantic Sun Player-of-the-Week honors, Lisandro Picardo (2) and Enrique Olivares (1).

On Saturday, the Huskers will face Wichita State who has competed in only five matches this spring. The Shockers have suffered two losses, both to nationally ranked teams. Playing primarily at the No. 3 and 4 spots, junior Thiago Dos Santos proves to be the most consistent Shocker with a 7-1 overall record this spring.

ETSU and WSU are scheduled to compete against each other on Friday, March 9, at 1 p.m., and ETSU will also compete against Drake on Sunday, March 10, at 10 a.m. at the Nebraska Tennis Center .

Huskers Drop Out of National Rankings

Beginning the 2007 spring season ranked 61st in the nation, the Huskers have slowly declined in the rankings as they struggled with consistency against opponents throughout the season. The gradual decline ultimately resulted in the Huskers being left out of this week’s national rankings. This marks the first time since May 2006 that the Huskers have not been ranked.

Huskers Break Even in Iowa

While in Des Moines , Iowa , the then-No. 72 Nebraska men’s tennis team competed against unranked Drake on Friday, Feb. 23, and No. 69 DePaul on Saturday, Feb. 24. The Huskers went 1-1 on the weekend as they were upset in Friday’s match against Drake, 6-1, but then in turn earned an upset victory over DePaul on Saturday, 5-2.

In the match against Drake, the Huskers were in a hole early after the Bulldogs took two of the three doubles matches. For the Huskers, Adrian Szatmary and David Bendheim won their match against Guilherme Marsiglia and Halvar Dil of Drake, 8-6. However, thanks in part to the then-17th-ranked duo of Maor Zirkin and Dalibor Pavic of Drake, they were able to win the other two matches and take the doubles point.

Drake carried momentum from their doubles matches into the singles matches, where the Huskers struggled to find a rhythm.

Nebraska’s Renato Melo gave the Huskers their lone point, as he defeated Drake’s Dil, 4-6, 6-2, 1-0 (10-4), in the No. 5 singles spot. Melo improved his singles record to 3-3 on the season, including 3-1 at the No. 5 spot.

Hendrik Stahmer dropped his first singles match of the season to Drake’s Marsiglia, 6-3, 6-3, moving him to 5-1.

After suffering the upset loss on Friday evening, the Huskers redeemed themselves in a 5-2 upset victory over No. 69 DePaul on Saturday afternoon.

Although the Huskers failed to win the doubles point to start off the contest, they quickly rallied back during the singles competition, defeating the Blue Demons at the No. 1 through 5 spots.

“I’m really proud of how our guys were able to bounce back after not only losing the doubles, but also after a tough loss last night,” said head coach Kerry McDermott. “We came out today and knew what we had to do, and we went point for point tonight to earn this win.”

Many Huskers displayed composure in Saturday’s competition with four of the six matches played out through three sets. At No. 1 singles Szatmary defeated DePaul’s George Wang in three sets, 7-5, 2-6, 6-4.

Another Husker to battle through three sets and earning a victory was Bendheim at No. 2 singles. Bendheim won his first set, 7-6, against DePaul’s Austin Doerner, but fell in the second set, 4-6. With the match on the line, Bendheim excelled under pressure, winning his third set 7-6 to come away with a victory and moving his overall record to 5-2 for the season.

At No. 3 singles, senior James Clow had a come-from-behind win against Jose Moncada of DePaul. After losing the first set to Moncada, 6-2, Clow remained competitive to win a close second set, 7-6, before he powered past Moncada in the third set, 6-2, to win the match.

Both Stahmer and junior Mark Tate defeated their opponents in only two sets at the No. 4 and 5 spots respectively. Now 6-1 on the year, Stahmer defeated DePaul’s Alasdair Graetz, 7-5, 6-3. Inserted into the singles lineup for the second time this spring, Tate defeated Vanja Gregc, 6-3, 7-5, earning his second win during the spring season.

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The Nebraska rifle team will travel to the E.F. Horton Rifle Range in Fairbanks , Alaska , this weekend in the hopes of winning its first NCAA Championship title. The individual and team smallbore competition will be held Friday, March 9, at 10 a.m. Action will then continue Saturday, March 10, at 10 a.m. with the air rifle competition.

The overall team champion with be determined by combining the smallbore and air rifle team totals into one aggregate score.

Eight of the nation’s top collegiate rifle programs qualified for this weekend’s match, including the defending national champion Alaska-Fairbanks team, along with Kentucky , Jacksonville State , Murray State , TCU, Navy and Army.

Nebraska enters this weekend after placing third at the Great American Rifle Conference championships on Feb. 25, with a team score of 4,600.

“At the GARC championships, I tried some experienced shooters on the team and then gave experience to some others to see how they would handle the larger match,” Head Coach Launi Meili said. “It helped me determine who the team would be to represent us at the NCAA nationals.”

Seniors Stacy Underwood and Kristina Fehlings and junior Kirsten Weiss will compete in both air rifle and smallbore for the Huskers, while freshman Amanda Jeffries will compete in smallbore and junior Kim Chrostowski will compete in air rifle.

“We do have the potential to be competitive,” Meili said, “It’s just getting the right combination of people to accomplish that.”

NCAA History
This weekend the Huskers will participate in their sixth NCAA Championships since Nebraska became apart of NCAA in 1999. This is the fourth consecutive NCAA trip for Nebraska , which has qualified every year since 2004. Coincidentally, it is also the fourth consecutive trip for Head Coach Launi Meili, who has helped the Huskers advance in four of her five years as Nebraska ’s head coach.

Nebraska’s highest finish as a team over the past nine years has been second, which the Huskers earned at the 2006 NCAA Championships. NU has also posted a pair of third place finishes in 2000 and 2005, and two sixth-place finishes in 2001 and 2004.

This year, the Huskers are in the presence of very good company, as three of the eight competing teams have previously won an NCAA team title. Murray State won in 1985 and 1987, Alaska-Fairbanks won in 1994 and again every year between 1999 and 2004 and in 2006, while Army notched its first team title in 2005.

Although NU has had plenty of team experience at the NCAA Championships, only two Huskers have ever won an individual event title. At Nebraska ’s first national championships appearance in 2000, Nicole Allaire took top honors in the smallbore with a score of 1,183. Last season, Kristina Fehlings notched the second individual title in NU rifle history by posting a career-high 592 for first place in air rifle. She also finished fifth to post Nebraska ’s highest smallbore finish.

Huskers Take Third at GARC Championships
The Nebraska rifle team placed third in the Great American Rifle Conference Championships on Sunday, Feb. 26, at Oxford , Miss. NU shot a combined team score of 4,600, just 30 points shy of the first-place Kentucky team.

Nebraska slipped to third after firing a 2,280 in the smallbore competition on Saturday, Feb. 25. Individually, junior Kirsten Weiss shot a score of 576 in regulation for a sixth-place finish. Senior Kristina Fehlings scored a 577 for a seventh-place finish, while freshman Amanda Jeffries shot a 573 for eighth.

The Huskers scored a total score of 2,320 in the air rifle competition on Sunday to finish third in the championships. Weiss also led the Huskers in air rifle, earning a third-place finish with a score of 588 in regulation. Fehlings finished eighth with a score of 586.

At the GARC awards banquet on Friday, Feb. 25, senior Stacy Underwood was honored as the 2006 GARC Senior of the Year.

All-conference teams were also announced at the banquet, with Underwood earning first-team honors in air rifle and combined and second-team honors in smallbore. Weiss earned first-team smallbore honors, second-team combined honors and honorable mention in air rifle. Junior Kim Chrostowski earned second-team air rifle and combined honors, as well as honorable mention in smallbore. Fehlings rounded Nebraska ’s all-conference list, earning second-team honors in smallbore.
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The University of Nebraska and the Husker Sports Network announced Tuesday that the NU women's basketball games at the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship this week will be carried live on KHUS 93.3 FM in Omaha.
The women's games were moved to KHUS because of the potential conflict between the Nebraska men's basketball team's first-round game against Oklahoma State on Thursday at 6 p.m.
The women will open Big 12 Tournament play on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. against Iowa State at the COX Convention Center in Oklahoma City. The Cyclones (23-7) advanced to the quarterfinals with a 57-45 victory over 12th-seeded Kansas State on Tuesday afternoon.
If the Huskers advance out of the quarterfinals, they will play in Thursday's first semifinal game at 6 p.m. The championship game of the 2007 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship is set for Saturday, March 10 at 6 p.m.
All of Nebraska's games at the Big 12 Tournament will be televised live nationally by Fox Sports Net and carried live on the Husker Sports Network, including 98.1 FM KFGE in Lincoln.